From the primary second I performed Sword of the Sea on the Summer time Sport Fest Play Days, I knew that it was like the sport Journey, which led down from that fantastic sport created years in the past to the second after I was enjoying the newest sport from Matt Nava’s sport studio, Big Squid.
I performed the start of the sport. You begin out as a anonymous character within the sand. You begin browsing by the sand, type of like a snowboarder in SSX. Besides you’re not driving on a snowboard. You experience on a sword, gliding above the sand as when you had been on a hoverboard.
Oddly sufficient, the expertise of snowboarding was the inspiration for Matt Nava, artistic director on the sport and founding father of Big Squid. He advised me that he was impressed by being each a snowboarder and a surfer and the feeling of shifting quick. Whenever you’re in that second, he mentioned that these excessive sports activities turn out to be meditative. It’s about being again in nature and connecting with it.
We’ve seen these sorts of video games in Flower, the place you change a metropolis from grey to greenery, in Journey as you slide by the sand, and in different peaceable video games as effectively. There are pictures from The Pathless and Abzu, the corporate’s earlier video games, in Sword of the Sea. When you wield a sword as a mysterious character in Sword of the Sea, you don’t use it in violence. As that character, you might be looking for one thing, however I didn’t be taught what that was in my brief demo.
The sport has lovely music, however you play the sport in silence. There’s no dialogue. No spoken narrative. It’s just like the online game model of a poem, or a silent movie. Within the sport, you progress round, resolve puzzles, and once you accomplish that you change the sand to sea water. It’s a really satisfying expertise.
I famous it was odd how Big Squid was hitting its stride with this sport, whereas the remainder of the trade was struggling attributable to lack of funding, excessive prices and altering gamer tastes. However Nava revealed in our dialog that Big Squid was on the brink for some time till PlayStation backed the corporate. It was an fascinating chat in the midst of a really chaotic demo day on the Summer time Sport Fest.
Right here is an edited transcript of our interview.
Matt Nava is artistic director and president of Big Squid.
GamesBeat: What are a number of the inspirations for this? I really feel like I see numerous Journey right here, and your first sport as effectively.
Matt Nava: And even The Pathless, which was our sport after that. It was all about shifting actually quick and momentum. It’s all of these concepts. However actually, the inspiration is simply from being a snowboarder and going browsing myself. Whenever you’re truly doing that stuff, you’re shifting quick, and it’s excessive, nevertheless it’s actually this sort of meditation. I’m actually within the meditative, religious facet of these excessive sports activities. Normally when video video games painting excessive sports activities, it’s very a lot about simply the floor stage of it. It’s not about the true purpose that individuals return to surf. You wish to be in nature. You wish to join with nature. You wish to discover.
The mysterious hero of Sword of the Sea.
There’s this sort of magical sensation you may get. That’s what we’re making an attempt to realize with this sport. Take the motion and the velocity, however allow you to get into that stream state and begin to join with the scene.
GamesBeat: Is all of it silent? No person talking, no narrative?
Nava: Yeah, there’s no dialogue within the sport. There are undoubtedly characters. You’ll meet one other mysterious character alongside the way in which. There will probably be a narrative that performs out as you make your manner by this world. There are many completely different biomes to discover past the sand. You’ll see within the trailer that we simply put out on the showcase. There are snowy areas and different issues. We’re telling the story with a sort of atmospheric narrative.
GamesBeat: Do you continue to want a story designer for that?
Nava: Oh, yeah. We’ve had a author on this sport. It’s hilarious. We’re like, “Okay, don’t write any words, but please help us.” It’s nice. Within the later model, there are little lore fragments you could find and skim to be taught extra in regards to the backstory of the world. You’ll have the ability to learn some little poems in regards to the historical past. It’s very refined, the way in which we do it.
GamesBeat: Is that instantly linked to your previous video games in any respect?
Nava: All of our video games are linked in a roundabout way. What we love to do is let the gamers provide you with these connections. We’ll undoubtedly give them some clues and issues to go on. However we by no means spell out precisely how they join. We’ve got imagery from The Pathless and from Abzu, so when you performed these video games you’ll acknowledge some issues. You’ll see that connecting house, for positive.
GamesBeat: The animation and the setting, it looks like these are each areas the place you already know what you’re doing. The sand and the ocean. Was there one thing that was very acquainted about doing this, or did you must be taught extra?
Sword of the Sea is approaching PlayStation on August 19.
Nava: It’s humorous. I believed, “I did a sand game. I did a water game. This will be easy.” However then we added this new factor, which is that the terrain is animating. It’s continually shifting in each body. That meant we needed to invent this new tech. This can be a very customized piece of know-how that we made so as to transfer with this wave at excessive velocity. It was acquainted, but additionally a completely new problem. It was numerous enjoyable.
GamesBeat: What timing do you bear in mind? Is that this scheduled for launch but?
Nava: Yeah, it’s going to be out on August 19, fairly quickly. We’ve got to complete this factor. We’re virtually executed.
GamesBeat: What platforms is it going to?
Nava: It’s going to be on PS5 and PC, Steam and Epic Video games Retailer. Day one on PS5 it’s going to be on the PlayStation Plus service.
GamesBeat: Do you be taught a lot about the principle character, or does he stay mysterious?
Nava: He’s very mysterious. You do be taught extra about him by the lore that you just learn within the sport, these little fragments. He’s sort of this empty swimsuit of armor at first. You see that droplet hit him and make him come to life. He’s sort of this empty creature. He’s looking for one thing.
GamesBeat: How would you evaluate the event to previous tasks? Has it moved quicker?
Nava: Each sport that I make takes about three or 4 years. This one is about 4 years of labor thus far. We began it through the pandemic, proper after The Pathless shipped. It was the primary sport we began remotely as a workforce. We needed to determine that each one out. The workforce got here collectively. It’s fairly wonderful what they’ve pulled off.
Your sword is a hoverboard in Sword of the Sea.
GamesBeat: How many individuals are on the workforce now?
Nava: We’ve got 16 or 17 individuals. A medium-sized workforce.
GamesBeat: And that’s intentional?
Nava: That’s our identification. We prefer to preserve it small. We’re a detailed group of associates, mainly, making bizarre, out-there video games.
GamesBeat: There’s a sword, however usually your video games have been non-violent. Do you must use the sword?
Nava: It’s humorous. The primary sport I made with a sword, we’re not doing fight or something. There are issues that you just lower. You noticed the little–what I name ocean seeds, the place he interacts and slashes it and the water comes out. Afterward there’s going to be a sort of antagonist you meet. There are scripted moments. However yeah, there’s no second to second fight within the sport. It’s actually in regards to the motion. The sword is a part of the lore.
GamesBeat: Do you contemplate this one thing that anyone ought to have the ability to determine? Is it a failure if somebody doesn’t know what to do subsequent?
Nava: Certainly one of our massive challenges once we designed the sport was to make it so as to actually simply play and uncover play without having to look something up. Simply self-guided. We secretly train you issues as you go. At first we present a bit textual content that tells you the way you leap and so forth. However we do secret stuff like–if a participant already jumps earlier than we present them that textual content, we simply don’t present the textual content. We perceive that you just already know leap. We don’t must inform you. We’re making an attempt to get out of your manner and allow you to be within the sport, not remind you that you just’re enjoying a sport.
GamesBeat: Is it your individual engine?
Nava: It’s Unreal Engine 5, however our workforce is exclusive in that regardless that we’re fairly small, we do various customized rendering. It doesn’t seem like all the opposite Unreal Engine video games. It has a really distinctive visible fashion, and that’s actually due to the customized tech that we placed on high of Unreal.
GamesBeat: What’s troublesome about getting that executed?
Nava: The most important problem is getting that character motion to really feel good. We’ve been engaged on the way it feels to go off the jumps and work together with the motion of the waves. We do some issues like–you go quicker on the sand. You go even quicker on the water. You go slower on tile. With out having any sort of velocity management for the participant, you simply mechanically go on the velocity that feels proper in every single place. Simply ensuring that all of it feels completely good once you’re shifting is the factor we’ve saved engaged on for 4 years.
Later within the sport you’re going to find environments which have snow and lava. Some very surreal environments. We’re taking these landscapes that you just’ve seen earlier than. You’ve seen a desert panorama. You’ve seen the water. However not like this. You’ve by no means seen a mountain of water. You’ve by no means seen the terrain shifting like that. There’s going to be locations that you just don’t count on to see in a sport like this in any respect.
That was one of many greatest challenges after I was pitching this sport. I’d provide you with a bit of idea artwork. “Imagine this animated. Imagine these waves moving.” “You’re just showing me a picture of the desert.” It’s a must to see it in movement to know it. However when you do, as soon as you are feeling it, then all people says, “Okay, I get it.”
The belongings you see in the midst of the desert.
GamesBeat: How did you financial this sport?
Nava: We’re partnered with Sony. Sony’s been our monetary backer. They’ve been nice companions. They understood the sport early and believed in us, believed within the workforce. We’ve had a detailed partnership with them up to now. We labored with them to ship Abzu as a console unique again within the day on the PS4. They’ve at all times been shut associates of the studio. They’ve an important workforce at PlayStation Indies.
GamesBeat: Have you ever mentioned how effectively your previous video games have executed thus far?
Nava: I don’t have these numbers readily available, however the good factor is that it’s sufficient for us to maintain going. They’ve been profitable. We nonetheless must get funding from massive firms, however each one in every of our video games has discovered its fanbase. We put out our trailer and we now have our Discord. Everybody was going loopy. It’s actually enjoyable to see. They’re doing new fan artwork already, which is an enormous morale enhance for the workforce.
GamesBeat: It looks like you’re hitting a stride right here, even whereas the remainder of the trade has struggled.
Nava: It’s been a tricky time with so many studios closing. We had been on the brink for some time. Final yr was actually tough. We persevered and fought exhausting. Sony actually got here in and helped us. They made it so we may proceed and end the sport. We’re grateful to them for serving to us make it by a extremely exhausting time.
